Elevator



(No Model.) 2 sheets-sheet 2.

W. J. ROOHFORD 8u E. W. KEMPTER.

ELBVATOR."

810.484.788. Patented oet. 18, 1892.

lll 711y a lparticularly to that class of such devices employed for preventing the operator from accidentally or purposely starting the' car either caught between the moving elevator-car and tion of partsby which the said object and diate stories being broken away.

. UNITED STATES UU/FER J. I-{OUHFOHD ANI) ERNEST lV. KEMPTEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PATENT OFFICE.

ELEVATO R.

'SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 484,766, dated October 18, 1892.

Application tied February 1, v1892.

To all whom, it' 112mg/ concern:

Beit known that we, WALTER J.' RoCHFoRD .and ERNEST W. KEMPTER, citizens of the United States, residing at Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevators, of which the following, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact specification.

Our' invention relatesto improvements in controlling mechanism for elevators, and more up or down while any of the doors of the elevator-shaft are open, thus avoiding the possibility of persons becomingA injured by being the casement'or sill of the door, itvbeing well understoodk that a large percentage of the casualties incident to the use of elevators are due to this cause.

The object of our invention, therefore, is to provide improved means for preventing the movement `of the car w'hile any of the doors are open and which shall be very simple of construction,easy of and automatic in its operation, andapplicable alike to all styles of elevators. f

Our invention consists in certain features of novelty .in the construction and combinaeertain other` objects hereinafter described are attained, and which will first be fully described with' reference to the accompanying drawings, and then lparticularly pointed out .in the claims. l In the said drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of an elevator-shaft having our improvements applied thereto, portions" being broken away to disclose the interior mechanism and the ear being omitted for 'the sake of simplicity.` Fig. 2 isasimilar view, on a larger scale, but looking from the side at right angles -to thatpresented in Fig. 1, showing the upper andower portions of lheeshaft, the interme- Fg.3. is a detail view, on a largerscale, more particularly illustrating the brake and its retracting mechanism, as hcreinafterdescribed. Figwl -is a detail vertical section of the Weight and cable box'or casing, showing interior parts, as-f serial No. 419,970. (No man.)

hereinafterdescribed. Fig. 5 is a similar sectional view taken von the line 5 5, Fig. 4. Fig.

`G is a sectional view similar to Fig. i, illustrating the modification of the manner of connectingV the weight-cable to the doors; and Fig.,7 is a further modification of the same.

In the drawings, wherein like signs of reference refer tolike parts throughout the several views', A indicates the elevator-shaft, which may be of the usual construction, provided at each story with the ordinary sliding door B, and at its upper and lower 4ends with the valve-rope sheave or pulley C and the valve-actuating shaft D, respectively.

In hydraulic elevators it is usual to provide the valve-shaft D with a pulley 0rdrum,such as E, around which valve-rope F is wound and passes upward over its sheave C at the top of the elevator-shaft; but in other forms of elevators-such, for instance, as the steam-elevater-the drum E is not ordinarily employed, the rope F in such case being connected to the lever or some other similar device for actuating the shaft D, which latter, however, is invariably employed in one form or another. Therefore for the sake of brevity I will term the shaft D the power-controlling shaft, which term will be understood toiuelude any form of shaft or device through the medium of which the power for raising the elevator is controlled by means of a rope,such as F. Hence in applying our improvements to the forms of elevators not already provided with the drum E it is simply necessary to add such drum to the shaft D and pass the rope F around it in the manner shown in the drawings or any other suitable'way.

Pivoted to' the bracket or standard G, in

which the shaft I) is journaled, is'a brake adapted to arrest themovement ot the drum E, so as to preventthe rotation of the shaft D and the consequent application or shutting olf of the power through the medium o.f the rope F. This brake preferably consists ot' two brake-shoes II, pivoted to the standard G at the points it, adapted to impinge one of the iianges e of the drum when the brake-shoes are oscillated or rocked away from each other upon their pivots. Each of these brake-shoes is provided, as more clearly shown in Fig. 3, with an elongated arm, and these arms ar'e connected together by means of a toggle, which IOO consists, preferably,of the two links I, pivoted, respectively, at their outer e'nds to the arms of the shoes Hand at their inner ends to the perforated heador block j, so .that when such block is forced downward,straight eniug the toggle, the arms of the brake-shoes will beforced asnnderand the noses h' of suoli, shoes caused to impinge the drum with great force. The brake-shoes are. held normally in engagement with the drum,and this is ac-4 complished, preferably, by means of acoiled but since the purposeof the telescopic shaft` is simply toconiine the spring to its properlocationand permit the toggle' to bebent upward for lreleasimg the brake-shoes it is obvious that such shaft or pin might be formed in one piece and allowed to slide upward through an opening or socket in the bracket L, and that the lever O might be secured directly to the .block i or to the telescopic shaft or pin proper, both of which modifications will be readily understood without further elaboration; but the construction shown is preferable, because the shaft M N is thereby rendered more rigid and requires less room for its operation.

Formed,.preferably, in the frame onone corner of the elevator-shaft is a weight or cable box P, which extends throughout the height' of such shaft, and is preferably in the corner adjacent to the edge or side of`the door or doors bearing the latch orlock.` In theupper end of this weight and cable box or casing P is secured the npperendof the weightcable Q, which extends downward to a point near the lower end of the shaft and is there provided with a weight R, whichis `ol sufficient size or specific gravity to cause the closing of any of the elevator-'doors B The case ment orframe S above each of the doors Bis preferably hollow and provided on its underA side with a longitudinal slots, through which passes and slides a lug b, which is-fermed-on or otherwise secured to that corner of the door whichy is adjacent to lthe'casing orbox P,

and toeach of these lugs b1 is secured one end of a branch cable q, which passes over an'idle pulley or roller T, suitably journaled in the box P, and has its other or lower erid spliced,

tied, or-otherwise vconnected to the vmain cable Q, the side of the box'l being provided with openings p for the passageof each of the branch cables q, and itbeingunderstood that such cables q should be 'at least; as long las the width of the door.' `--.'1"iii1sit will be seen l that whenever a doori isopened in any story of the building the cable Q will be drawn up'- gular.

ward by the brauch cable q, and the weight R. will consequently be lifteda distance equal to the movement of' the door, and thatwhen the door is released it will be automatically closed by, the superior gravity of such weight R. In order to` govern the movement `of.' the grake-hoes' H by thel movement of Vthe doors we communicatethe `movement otY the 7 5 weightR'-t'o. the lever YO, so; that when-such weight dscendsin the act of 'closingthe door thev lever O will compress the spring K fand 'release the' brake-shoes, thus permitting the u Vpowe'rcoutrollng 'shaft `D to be actuated through the medium of the rope F. In order,

however, that thespringK may be stout, so as to produce by the aid'of the leverage afforded bythe -toggles I'the requisite pressure upon the brakeehoes without'the necessity of employing an excessively 1 large weight R,

which would yprove disastrous to the cable Q L and render the openingof the doors B very laborious, we communicate the-movement of the weight R to the brake-shoes'andspring'K through the lintermediary of a compound ever, of which the lavoro, a lever of the lirst order, is one member,'whilea lever T of the second order is a second member. The lever T is pivoted or fulcrumed ina standard or .upright t, and itsjpowerend passes through the path vor line4 of movement of the weight R, preferably through avertical slot p' in the v box P, so as to constitutea guide for-this end.

of the lever'.` The lever O isl pvoted orfull rod crumed in a suitables'tandard' or bracketo, t

and its power end or long arm passes through the standard t, so as to be guided thereby,'and` supports the lever T' by impinging the under side thereof between two-guide-plates t. Thus it will be seen that the gravity of the weight R is suiiicient to overcome the inertia of the Y spring K, and yet offer but little resistance to the opening of thedoors B.

Inorder to prevent therotation of the weight IIO R and the consequent twisting-of the cables Q and q, we prefer ,to` make the box P at its lower end-at least where the weight isl located-non-circular in cross'section and toV v also formthe weight of similar contour. As

shown in the drawings, it is square or rectan-` The lower end' of the weight R is also provided with an antifriction-,roller r, which is suitably journaled in `two depending 'ears formed on the lower endof thevweight, so as" toreduce the friction between the'end of theA With 'an apparatus thus constructed it willr be seen lever T and theweight to a minimum.

that so long as theweightR is in contact with' the leve'r'T the, brake-shoes h will'he held aloof from the periphery ofV the cabledrumy E; but `as soon as any of the doors throughout'the height of the elevator-shaft are opened l thefsaid weight will be raised from the leverv T through `the connections already described,

and the spring K, through the medium of the arms or levers H, will force' the" brake-shoes 'rmly against thecable-drum, and thus render itfimpossible to turn such drum `through the medium of the rope or cable F, and hence the attendant will be unable to start the car until all of the doors are closed.

If desired, the branch cablesq may be done away with and the main cable Q passed un der an,idler U, arranged a little above the idler T, and thence passed around a pulley b', journaled on the lug b on the corner of the door, the cable then passing over the idler T, as before, whereby when the door is opened a loop of the cable will be drawn int-o the hollow portion S of the easement and the, weight accordingly elevated. This construction, however, multiplies the resistance of the weight R upon the door and might be considered inferior to the preferred form before described for that reason.

As a modification of the form shown in Fig. ti, the lug b may be extended into the box or casing P through the opening p and between the idlers 'l U, so that the pulley b may be journaled in its end in such a position as to allow the main cable to hang vertically between the three pulleys, thus avoiding the necessity of overcoming the friction in openinga door, which is entailed by the cable ruuning between the idlers T U and around the pulley b on all the doors below the door being opened.

Having thus described ourinvention, what we claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l'. In an elevator, the combination,with the shaft having doors, of a cable suspended in said shaft and connected to each of said doors, a weight secured to said cable,'a power-controlling shaft, a drum on said power-controlling shaft, means for rotating said drum from the elevator-car, a Vbrake for locking said drum against rotation, and a lever actuated by said weight for releasing said brake, substantially as set forth.

Y forth.

3. In an elevator, the combination, with the elevator-shaft havingedoors, of a cable sus.- pended in said shaft and connected to each of said doors, a weight `secured to said cable, the power-controlling shaft, means for actnating said`power-controllingshaft from the elevator-car, a brake for locking said powercontrolling shaft against rotation, toggles for actuating said brake, a spring yfor actuating saidtoggles to hold the brake normally in en' gagement, and a compound lever lfor releas ing said brake arranged in the line of movement of said weight, substantially as set forth.

4. In an elevator, the combination, with the elevator-shaft having doors, of a weight-box, a cable suspended in said box and connected with each of said doors, a weight secured to said cable, the powercontrolling shaft, a brake for locking said shaft against rotation, and a compound lever` for releasing said brake and projecting through said weightbox in the line of movement of said weight, substantially as set forth.

5. In an elevator, the combination, with the elevator-shaft having doors, of a suspended cable, branch cables connecting said doors with said suspended cable, a weight secured to said suspended cable, the power-controlling shaft., a brake for locking said shaft, and a lever for disengaging said brake arranged in the line of movement-,of said weight, substantially as set forth.

6. In an elevator, the combination, with the elevator-shaft having doors, of a suspended cable, branch cables connecting said first cable with said doors, pulleys over whichrsaid branch cables pass, a weight secured to said first cable, the power-controlling shaft, a brake for locking said shaft, and a lever for disengaging said brake arranged in the line of movement of said weight, substantially as set forth. v I

7. In an elevator, the combination, with tbe elevator-shaft having doors, of a non-circular weight-box, a cable suspended in said box and being connected with each of said doors, a non-circular weight secured to saidcable in said box, the power-controlling shaft, and a brake for locking said shaft adapted to be disengaged by the movement of said weight, substantially as set forth.

8. In anelevator, the combination, with the elevator-shaft having doors, of the box P, a cable suspendedin said box, the hollow slotted frames S, lugs on said doors, projecting into said hollow frames S, branch cables connecting said lugs with said first cable, pulleys over which said branch cables pass, a weight secured to said first cable, the power-controlling shaft, and a brake for locking said shaft adapted to be disengaged by movement of said weight, substantially asset forth.

9. In an elevator, the combination,with the elevator-shaft having doors, of a weight for holding said doorsl closed, the power-controlling shaft, a drum on said shaft, the rope F, passing around said drum, brake-shoes arranged to impinge said drum, toggles for actuating said brake-shoes, a spring for forcing said toggles in one direction, and a compound lever for forcing said toggles in an opposite directionarrauged in the line of movement of said weight, substantially as set forth.

10. In an elevator, the combination, with the power-controlling shaft having a drum thereon, of the pivoted brake-shoes H, having elongated arms arranged to impinge said drum, toggles connecting said arms, the fixed bracket L, the telescopic pin or shaft having one end secured to said bracket and its other end to said toggles, a spring sleeved on said IOO 4 a 484,7ec

telescopic `shaft; for forcing saidbrake-shoes into engagement, and means for disengaging said brakeshoessubstantially as set forth.

11. In an elevator, the combination, with the elevator-shaft having doors, of a weight connected with said doors'fonclosing them,

an antifriction-roller on said weightfmeans antifriction-roller, substantially as set `forth.

zoy

of a pivoted for preventing the `rotation of said weight, a`

brake for preventing the movement of the ele vator-car, and a lever for disengaging said brake and arranged -to be impinged by saidr `12. In ,an elevator, the combination, wtl'a weight for'closing the doors and a brake for preventing the movement of the elevator-car, lever O for disengagizng said brake, the standard t, through which said lever passes, the lever T', pivoted in said standard t and resting upon the end of the lever O' and bein-g arranged in the line of movement of said weight,.and a guide for said leverT.sub stantially as set forth.

13. In an elevator, the combination, with the elevator-shaft having doors, of'arweghted cable suspended in said shaft, antifriction deg vices arranged between said cable and door,1. and a pulley secured to the door and adapte@ to engagethe cable between said antit'rietion` devices, substantially as set forth,

14. In an elevator, the combination, with the elevator-shaft having adoor, of a weighted cable suspended in said shaft, antifrictionrollers journaled on'eabove the other between said cable anddoor, a bracket or lug on said 3S rollers, and a pulley on said bracket or lug` l adapted to engage said cable-, substantially f.

door projecting between said anti-frictionas set forth. l v

` WALTERYJ. RooHnoRu l ERNEST W. KEMPTER.

Witnesses;

R. C. OMoHUNDRo, F. A. HOPKINS. 

